- •Предисловие
- •Unit 1. Types of Family in Modern Society
- •Focus Vocabulary List
- •The British Family
- •The American Family
- •The Future of the Family
- •Vocabulary Exercises
- •Британская семья
- •The Family
- •The Problem of (Cohabit)
- •Integrated Discourse Skills Development
- •III. Monologue Discourse Modelling
- •2. Class Activities
- •IV. Dialogue Discourse Modelling
- •2. Class Activities
- •Unit 2. What Makes a Good Parent? Family Discipline and Changes in Parental Authority
- •Focus Vocabulary List
- •Permissiveness: “a Beautiful Idea” that Didn’t Work?
- •Comprehension Check
- •Article Rendering: Basic Structure Build-Up
- •Parents Are Too Permissive with Their Children Nowadays
- •1. Fill in the columns in the chart with the corresponding adjectives and phrases from the list below. Some descriptions may fit into both columns.
- •2. When you have completed the chart, pick out all the (1) synonyms and (2) antonyms to the following characteristics.
- •1. Synonyms 2. Antonyms
- •3. Make use of the completed chart to give a brief sketch of each child/parent type. Use the following questions as a guide.
- •Difficult Children
- •The Monster Children
- •Life Styles: “What Makes a Good Parent”?
- •Ivan sokolov
- •Vocabulary Exercises
- •The Power of No
- •Integrated Discourse Skills Development
- •I. Agree or disagree with the quotations below. Be sure to provide solid arguments.
- •II. Monologue Discourse Modelling
- •III. Polylogue Discourse Modelling
- •1. Out-of-class Projecting
- •Debate Techniques
- •Introduction
- •Arguments and Counter-arguments
- •Questions
- •2. Class Activities
- •IV. Monologue Discourse Modelling
- •Individual Argumentative Techniques
- •Project on a Problem Situation
- •Introduction
- •2. Class Activities
- •V. Written Discourse Skills Development
- •Unit 3. Problems of a Young Family
- •Focus Vocabulary List
- •Additional Vocabulary List
- •The Child Care Dilemma
- •Comprehension and Discussion Guide
- •It’s 10:00 a.M.: Do You Know What Your Sitter’s Doing?
- •Smart ways to check on your sitter
- •It’s 4:00 p.M.: Do You Know Where Your Children Are?
- •Vocabulary Exercises
- •Back to Day Care
- •Что творят с детьми няни (…или Как проследить за процессом воспитания)
- •Integrated Discourse Skills Development
- •I. Written Discourse Modelling
- •2. Class Activities:
- •II. Polylogue Discourse Modelling
- •III. Monologue Discourse Modelling
- •Unit 4. Hazards of Teenage Sex
- •Focus Vocabulary List
- •Teenage Sex: Just Say “Wait”
- •Lower the Age of Consent
- •Vocabulary Exercises
- •Дочки-матери
- •Integrated Discourse Skills Development
- •I. Polylogue Discourse Modelling
- •III. Dialogue Discourse Modelling
- •2. Class Activities
- •Unit 5. Problems of a Young Family Young Adults: Living in Parental Homes or Living Away?
- •Focus Vocabulary List
- •Show Me the Way to Go Home
- •Comprehension and Discussion Guide
- •Back to Mum After All This Time
- •Could You Throw Out Your Child?
- •Vocabulary Exercises
- •Is Your Nest Too Full?
- •Bit of a Crowd in the Empty Nest
- •Integrated Discourse Skills Development
- •I. Polylogue Discourse Modelling
- •II. Written Discourse Skills Development
- •I. Background Reference Information
- •II. Letter Structure Focus
- •III. Sample Letter Publication Foreword
- •Unit 6. Marriage and Divorce
- •Focus Vocabulary List
- •Vast Majority of Americans Still Believe in the Family
- •Comprehension and Discussion Guide
- •Vocabulary Exercises
- •In Great Britain, an Easier Out
- •Divorce
- •Integrated Discourse Skills Development
- •I. Polylogue Discourse Modelling
- •2. Class Activities
- •II. Monologue Discourse Modelling
- •Individual Argumentative Techniques
- •III. Written Discourse Development
- •IV. Monologue Discourse Modelling
- •References
- •Contents
Parents Are Too Permissive with Their Children Nowadays
Few people would defend the Victorian attitude to children, but if you were a parent in those days, at least you knew where you stood: children were to be seen and not heard. Freud and company did away with all that and parents have been bewildered ever since. The child’s happiness is all-important, the psychologists say, but what about the parents’ happiness? Parents suffer constantly from fear and guilt while their children gaily romp about pulling the place apart. A good old-fashioned spanking is out of the question: no modern child-rearing manual would permit such barbarity. The trouble is you are not allowed even to shout. Who knows what deep psychological wounds you might inflict? The poor child may never recover from the dreadful traumatic experience. So it is that parents bend over backwards to avoid giving their children complexes which a hundred years ago hadn’t even been heard of. Certainly a child needs love, and a lot of it. But the excessive permissiveness of modern parents is surely doing more harm than good.
Psychologists have succeeded in downgrading parents’ confidence in their own authority. And it hasn’t taken children long to get wind of the fact. In addition to the great modern classics on child care, there are countless articles in magazines and newspapers. With so much unsolicited advice flying about, mum and dad just don’t know what to do any more. In the end, they do nothing at all. So, from early childhood, the kids are in charge and parents’ lives are regulated according to the needs of their offspring. When the little dears develop into teenagers, they take complete control. Lax authority over the years makes adolescent rebellion against parents all the more violent. If the young people are going to have a party, parents are asked to leave the house. Their presence merely spoils the fun. What else can the poor parents do but obey?
Children are hardy creatures (far hardier than the psychologists would have us believe) and most of them survive the harmful influence of extreme permissiveness which is the normal condition in the modern household. But a great many do not. The spread of juvenile delinquency in our own age is largely due to parental laxity. Mother, believing that little Johnny can look after himself, is not at home when he returns from school, so little Johnny roams the streets. The dividing-line between permissiveness and sheer negligence is very fine indeed.
The psychologists have much to answer for. They should keep their mouths shut and let parents get on with the job. And if children are knocked about a little bit in the process, it may not really matter too much. At least this will help them to develop vigorous views of their own and give them something positive to react against. Perhaps there’s some truth in the idea that children who’ve had a surfeit of happiness in their childhood emerge like stodgy puddings and fail to make a success of life.
The arguments: key words
One can’t defend Victorian attitude to children, but position clear then: children seen, not heard.
Freud and Co. have done away with this view.
Psychologists: child’s happiness important. Parents’?
Parents: fear and guilt; spanking forbidden; barbarity.
Not even shouting: psychological wounds; traumatic experience.
Parents try to avoid giving complexes unknown 100 years ago.
Love, yes, but excessive permissiveness harmful
Psychologists undermined parents’ confidence in authority.
Children aware of this.
Bombarded with child-care books, articles, etc., parents don’t know what to do; do nothing.
Regulate lives according to children’s needs.
Lax authority: adolescent rebellion all the more violent.
E.g. parties: parents not wanted.
Children: hardy creatures; most survive permissiveness.
Many don’t: juvenile delinquency; e.g. Johnny roams streets.
Dividing line, permissiveness and negligence very fine.
Psychologists to blame: leave parents alone.
If children knocked about a bit – not important.
Develop vigorous views, something positive to react against.
Surfeit of happiness: stodgy puddings.
The counter-argument: key words
If parents err today in bringing up children, they err on the right side.
There is no defence for Victorian harshness, hypocrisy, barbarity.
We can only be grateful to Freud and Co.: an age of enlightenment.
Child-care manuals: sensible and practical; not authoritarian.
We know too much to be authoritarian these days.
Of course love is all-important.
Love and care is not the same as permissiveness and negligence.
No one would defend parental laxity.
We are not concerned here with delinquent children, but with children from happy home backgrounds.
Psychological wounds can be very real.
E.g. can later lead to mental illness.
Children today: healthy in body and mind; parents really care.
Develop more quickly than previous generation.
Soon gain independence from parents.
Grow up to be mature, responsible adults.
Answer the following questions on the text.
What was the so-called Victorian attitude to children, according to the author of the article?
How has the approach to child-rearing changed throughout the centuries? Who contributed most to a new philosophy of child upbringing?
Describe and analyze the shifted roles of parents and children within the framework of the permissiveness theory.
Why does the author persist in his opinion that excessive permissiveness and lax authority are doing more harm than good? What factual proof does he provide? Do you share the suggested view?
What are some of the arguments for reasonable parental authority in a household?
Text C
Pre-reading exercise